


Brewed Jitters

by taylor_renae



Series: 50 Pavel/Joanna AU's [3]
Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, M/M, between the lines mckirk, coffee shop AU, establised mckirk, wingman sulu
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-23
Updated: 2013-12-23
Packaged: 2018-01-05 19:31:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,933
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1097772
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/taylor_renae/pseuds/taylor_renae
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Modern coffee shop au - In which Pavel has a dayjob at Starbucks and hates it. Until, that is, he meets a lovely Southern girl that stops by the shop.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Brewed Jitters

Pavel hated his dayjob.

Working in a coffeeshop was the biggest teenage job cliche he had ever observed. There had always been teenagers working in coffee shops, ever since he came to San Fransisco, they always seemed tired and stressed out, as if they could pay their rent and college loans by working part-time in a coffeeshop. Pavel swore to himself that he would never be reduced to something that cliche, no matter how tight money was. He had never meant to break that self-promise. He had tried, oh, how he had tried.

Now Pavel understood why they had looked so tired and hardly ever smiled. Growing up was hard, but becoming an adult in San Fransisco alone was harder. He wasn't entirely alone, of course, he had his friends he worked with at the coffee shop who went to school with him, Hikaru, Jim, and Uhura, along with some professors he got along with, Spock and Scotty. But coffeeshops and grocery stores seemed to be the only places that would hire a undergraduate runaway with a funny accent.

Pavel was in the middle of a particularily long day at his post, seeing as he was pulling double shifts, filling in for Hikaru, who had called in sick with the flu. Two customers so far had spilled their drinks on him, and three more had spilled them on the floor. Pavel was half a second away from quitting his dayjob in a desperate flash of fury when he saw her. She was just a few paces away from the entrance to the coffee shop when he spotted her extending her hand to open the door. Based on how she held her backpack and at least three books balanced under one arm, and how she winced and uneccessarily apologized to a man who accidentally stomped on her foot as she stepped in, she was having almost as bad of a day as he was.

She smiled as she walked up to Pavel at the counter, and he took a moment to admire how bright it shone, despite her exhasted features. She had lovely brown-if not rather disheveled-hair, more-green-than-hazel eyes, and tan skin splashed with a few freckles. It took him only a second of listening to her speak to deduct that she, too, was not from San Fransisco, "Hi there, darlin',"

He felt himself smiling pleasantly back at her, at her appearence as well as her endearing accent and tone, "Heelo," he responded, nearly wincing at how stupid his accent felt in comparison to hers, but she just smiled wider, and he could feel himself doing the same. He suddenly remembered what he was supposed to be doing and asked, "Ah-What can I get for you?"

He watched as she pulled her lip into her mouth, chewing in inquisitively as she looked over the menu scribbled over the chalkboard over Pavel's head, "Uh, I'm not really familiar with the choices, I've only been here for a short time," she drawled, and Pavel was half-listening to her words, and half-listening to how her words sounded, "what do ya recommend?"

Pavel looked up at the board above him, himself. At that precise moment, he seemed to forget every beverage he had ever come across, "Eh, zhe coffee iz good," he offered, and mentally slammed his head down on the counter as he felt his ears burn.

She smiled brightly, and he could see the laugh in her eyes, "Oh?" she chuckled, and he wasn't quite sure if she was laughing at him, or with him, but he was pretty sure it was the latter. But, as he was a bit suprised to realise, he didn't care, "what do you usually drink?"

"Wodka," he answered, not fully thinking about the question until he had already answered.

She laughed and replied, still giggling, "Well, I meant coffee wise, but ok,"

Pavel blushed a deeper shade of read and he gave an embarrased, "Oh, of-of course. Well, I don't drink here much, but when I do, I get an espresso,"

"Expresso?"

"Espresso," Pavel smirked fondly, "eet ees a strong black coffee made by forcing steam szrough ground coffee beans,"

"Sounds complicated," she furrowed her brow slightly.

"Eet sounds complicated, yis, but eet is seeple, really," he explained, "but we haf a machine for eet,"

She blushed, bit her lip, and averted her eyes, looking first down at the counter, then out the shop window.

"What ees eet?" he asked. She looked back at him, her cheeks still a lovely shade of pink, and her lower lip still between her teeth.

"I know what an espresso is," she confessed, "I just wanted to hear you explain something to me in your accent. I've never heard one like yours before,"

"O-oh," Pavel looked down, embarrassed.

"I love it," she added. Pavel searched her face, and, as far as he could tell, she was being honest, somehow.

"Really?" he asked cautiously.

She giggled, "Really,"

He found the sides of his mouth curling upwards in disbelief. She smirked back at him, "Can I get a caramel macchiato with an extra shot, please?"

"Yis, of course," he said, setting to work while she shoved her books into her backpack.

"Oh, and could I get that iced, please?" she added, "it's even hotter here than where I'm from, and I swear, a month ago I thought no where on the planet was hotter than home,"

Pavel listened to her drawl and asked, "Where are you from?"

"Georgia," she responded, "you know, there are only 3 Starbucks' in Savannah?"

"No, I deedn't," he stated, "ees zat where you leeved?"

"Yeah, I lived in an apartment with my momma," she explained, "well, every now 'n then I went to my grandma's horse farm in Macon,"

"Eet ees wery hot in Georgia, yis?"

"Oh yeah, just not as hot as here, somehow," she smiled, "usually in the winter it's like 50 degrees, but here it's 50 if not 60. How cold is it where you're from?"

Pavel grinned, she must have recognized his accent as Eastern European, "Wery, wery cold," he answered, "cold weenters were inwented in Russia,"

She laughed pleasantly at that. Pavel finished making her drink, and she pulled a thin credit card out of the small pocket of her backpack and handed it to him.

He swiped it on the terminal and entered the digits onto the pad, "Haf you been here long?"

"Naw," she replied, "I just got in a little while ago, I'm here to live with my Daddy 'n his boyfriend, Jim, while I attend the Academy,"

"Starfleet Academy?"

"Yep,"

"I go to Starfleet Academy," Pavel stated, almost excitedly.

"Really?" she said, more out of surprise than an actual question, "then maybe I'll see you there sometime,"

Pavel returned her friendly smile, "Yis, maybe," he bit his lip, hoping they would meet at the Academy. If she was just enrolling, she wasn't much younger than him, perhaps a year younger, or even the same age as him would be likely, but not very, she did look rather young. If she was close to him in age, it was a possibility that they had a few classes together.

"Well, thank you," she smiled, turning to leave, "I hope to see you again sometime,"

"Yis, absolutelee," Pavel responded, a bit disappointed to see her go as he bit the inside of his cheek. He should have asked for her phone number, or at least her name. It was then that he looked down at his hands as she began to walk away, that he realised her credit card was still in his hands. He jumped into action, stammering, "Oh, uh," he read the inscription on the card: JOANNA MCCOY, "Joanna!"

The girl turned at the sound of her name, looking back to Pavel. He held up her card, "Your credeet card," he tried not to smirk as she slung her backpack over her shoulders and walked back to him.

"Oh, thanks," Joanna said as he handed it back to her, glancing at his nametag, "Pavel," she smirked.

Pavel smiled at her back as she exited the store. Maybe he could look her up on the Academy Database once he got back to his apartment. The thought of seeing her again in some of his classes made him smile as he got back to work.

-~-

The next day wasn't nearly as busy. There were only one or two customers in the shop at a time, if any. It was days like this that made Pavel's job bearable. Hikaru was back, having recovered from his flu. He and Hikaru just sat at the bar for most of the day, one of them covering for the other while they conversed with friends from the academy.

At about 9am, Dr. McCoy, who lived in an apartment down the street came in before his shift at the hospital.

"Good morning, Dr. McCoy," Hikaru chimed, "what'll it be?"

"Hi there, Hikaru," Dr. McCoy was a regular at the coffee shop, so he was on a first-name basis with both Hikaru and Pavel, "I'll have a vente Pike Place roast, please, with an extra shot, a vente salted caramel mocha frappuccino, a tall iced caramel macchiato, two spinach & feta breakfast wraps, and one sausage & cheddar breakfast sandwich. All in a traveler, please,"

"Sure thing," Hikaru turned to Pavel, "could you get started on the food please, Pav?"

Pavel nodded, setting to work.

"Long night, Doc?" Hikaru asked as he pulled out two large cups and one small one, beginning to prepare the beverages.

The doctor sighed, massaging the bridge of his nose with his index finger and his thumb, "Yeah, my daughter moved into me 'n Jim's apartment yesterday from Georgia so she could attend the Academy, and she 'n Jim spent practically the whole night goofin' off until I forced 'em both to go to bed. They're still asleep. I'm gonna bring 'em breakfast 'n coffee before I head off for my shift at General,"

"Your daughter's going to the Academy, you said?" Hikaru asked.

"Yeah, who knows, she may be in a few classes with you boys," Dr. McCoy responded.

"I guess we'll see. How old is she?" Hikaru was fantastic at small-talk, as well as multi-tasking.

"She's sixteen," the doctor answered, adding proudly, "she graduated high school early,"

"No kidding," Hikaru sang, turning to Pavel, "just a year younger than you, Pav,"

Pavel "hmm"ed a response, too tired from the previous day's work to really care.

"What's her name?" Hikaru asked, capping the first vente while Pavel reached for a traveler from beneath the counter.

"Joanna,"

Pavel's head shot up and he nearly hit his head on the counter, accidentally flinging the traveler into the air. Pavel scrambled to contain it, fumbling with it in a desperate attempt to catch it. When he had gotten a firm grasp on it, he hugged it to his chest to keep from dropping it again. He set it on the counter and turned to the surprised and confused looks Hikaru and the doctor were giving him, his ears burning.

"Deed you say 'Joanna', doktor?"

"...Yes," he answered slowly, clearly taken aback.

"Are you okay, Pavel?" Hikaru asked, frozen to his spot at Pavel's spasm.

"A-ah, yees," Pavel cleared his throat and regained his composure, deciding to play it cool. The doctor was a friend, and a lovely man, but Pavel knew from past experience that he could be grumpy... and scary. He wasn't too sure the doctor would take too kindly to the thought of a seventeen-year-old barista boy infatuated with his daughter, especially when they had had only a brief conversation the day previous, "she stopped by zhe shop yeesterday,"

"Oh, really?" Hikaru smiled, although Pavel could tell he knew something else was up. Pavel nodded.

"Hmm, small world," Dr. McCoy remarked.

Hikaru and Pavel finished with the doctor's order, Hikaru resuming his pleasant small-talk, Pavel remaining quiet, feeling stupid for not piecing it all together sooner. Joanna McCoy. Dr. Leonard McCoy, originally from Georgia, currently living in a apartment with his boyfriend, Jim. Joanna had mentioned all of that in her story, the only part she had left out was what her father's name was. Pavel mentally kicked himself.

Once Hikaru and Pavel had finished and packed up Dr. McCoy's order, they all said their goodbyes, and the doctor left, heading to his apartment. Once he was out of eyesight through the shop windows, Hikaru turned a mischevious smirk to Pavel.

"So, what was that all about?" he requested.

"What was what all about?" Pavel asked, averting his eyes.

"That craziness when the Doc mentioned his daughter?" Pavel didn't respond. Hikaru raised an eyebrow, "was she hot?"

Pavel snapped his head up, trying to hide his guilty blush. Hikaru's mouth fell open in a smug, "I knew it!" expression.

"She was, wasn't she?"

"Hikaru," Pavel snapped, clearly embarrassed. He knew Hikaru would be able to tell when he lied, but Pavel was really too embarrassed to care, "she was not "hot", she was, ah... nice,"

Hikaru sniggered in response, "Okay, whatever, loverboy," his snigger turned to a guffaw when he saw the deep shade of red on Pavel's face.

-~-

It was 1:30pm before they got their next customer. Pavel had been resting his head on the counter when he heard the chime of the bell on the shop's door, slowly dragging his head up enough to see over the bar. He shot straight up when he saw who it was.

"Joanna!" he stammered, flushing, then blushing as he saw Hikaru smirk from the corner and began making his way over to them.

Joanna giggled, "Hi there, Pavel,"

"What can I geet you?" Pavel tried to force his ears to stop burning as Hikaru strode closer.

"An iced caramel macchiato with an extra shot for here, please. Daddy woke me 'n Jim up early this mornin', clearly vengeance for us stayin' up so late last night. You remember when I told ya 'bout 'em when I stopped by yesterday, right?"

"Of course," Pavel smiled. Hikaru stopped next to him and turned his gaze onto Joanna.

"So," he smiled, "this is Joanna McCoy, huh?"

Joanna smiled at him, subtly hiding her confusion at how Hikaru knew her.

"Joanna, zhees ees Hikaru," Pavel informed her, averting his eyes.

"Hi, Joanna," Hikaru smiled, offering his hand to her over the counter, "your dad is a friend of ours, a shop regular,"

"Oh," Joanna remarked, shaking Hikaru's hand, "small world,"

Pavel felt himself smiling as Hikaru chuckled. Hikaru pulled Joanna's hand to his lips and kissing the back of it good-naturedly, chuckling as she blushed and Pavel flushed in slight anger.

"It's nice to meet you, Hikaru,"

"Pleasure's all mine, Joanna," Hikaru chimed, as Joanna excused herself and sat at a table next to the shop window, opening a book she had pulled from her bag. Hikaru turned to Pavel.

"She is hot, isn't she? No wonder you were so perterbed while talking to the Doc this morning," he remarked in a hushed voice, chuckling, "why don't you bring her her drink, and I'll cover for you while you guys talk for a while?"

Pavel tried to hide his embarrassment, quite unsuccessfully.

"Why don't you try to get her number, huh?" Hikaru said in a teasing tone, although Pavel knew from knowing Hikaru that he was completely serious.

"Hikaru!" he hissed, whispering.

"Alright, fine," Hikaru held up his hands in a mock surrender, still grinning, "if you don't want her number, I'll keep it,"

Pavel picked up Joanna's finished drink and began walking off, hissing one last, "Hikaru!" over his shoulder. Hikaru laughed as he watched his friend walk away, sitting back down.

-~-

Joanna looked up and smiled at Pavel as he set her drink down, sitting at the unoccupied chair across from her, "Hi there,"

"Heelo,"

"So, you think I'm hot?" Joanna said, smirking mischeviously. It was a good thing Pavel wasn't drinking anything, for he would have spat it everywhere.

"Wh-what?" he sputtered, horrified.

She gave him a knowing look and stated, "I heard you and Hikaru talkin' over there,"

He stammered for a moment before stating, "Joanna, zat was just Hikaru playeeng around. I am wery sorry if we offended you,"

She laughed, "Don't worry, Pavel, I'm not offended," she looked almost surprised, "jeeze, I don't think I've ever met a boy who apologized so heavily for callin' a girl hot, especially it if was his friend that said it,"

Pavel didn't know how to respond to that, so he looked down at the table. She giggled and added, "it's sweet,"

He glanced back up at her, half-expecting to see sarcasm in her eyes, but, to his surprise, her smile was genuine. He smiled back at her, "Ah, would you like to go out sometime? Not for coffee, zhough, for food, maybe, o-or-"

"Are you asking me out on a date, Pavel?" she interrupted his stammering with a tone that he couldn't decipher for a positive or negative answer.

"W-well, eet, uh, could be a date," he gulped, feeling the burn of his ears rise to a critical level, "eef you don't want to, zat would be alright, too, you know-"

"I'd love to," Joanna repsonded, her face not giving any hints.

"You'd lowe to... newer see me again, or...?" Pavel didn't dare to hope.

"I'd love to go on a date with you," Joanna smiled.

Pavel beamed back at her, the burning in his ears receding. It was then that Pavel decided he didn't really mind his dayjob.


End file.
